The Pasayten Wilderness

The vast and remote Pasayten Wilderness stretches eastward from the crest of the Cascades to encompass arid ranges and wooded basins, untamed rivers and peaceful alpine lakes. Overshadowed by national park lands to the west, the Pasayten receives relatively few visitors. It is vast in extent, more than half a million acres in all. Hikers can go for weeks here without crossing a road or their own tracks. The long trails of the Pasayten Wilderness lead deep into the mountains, offering excellent opportunities for solitude that improve with distance from the Pacific Crest Trail and the Harts Pass area. Many of the trails that appear on maps receive little or no maintenance, and backpackers who wish to test their wilderness skills will find that the Pasayten country offers ample challenges.

The mountains east of the Cascade crest have a more continental climate than that west of the divide, with hotter summers and colder, drier winters. Lowland forests typically are dominated by Douglas fir, with dense stands of lodgepole pine or open savannahs of ponderosa pine in drier areas where wildfires have shaped the landscape. Near the timberline, Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir are the dominant trees, while whitebark pine is prevalent in arid areas. Stands of subalpine larch can be found in some of the highest and most windswept locales. Alpine meadows above treeline are typified by a greater number of grasses and fewer flowering plants than are found farther west, although there can be stunning displays of wildflowers in locales that receive plenty of moisture.

The Pasayten is truly a multiple-use wilderness. It is popular with horse parties, and a few trunk trails receive heavy use by horse traffic. The area has been used as a summer range for domestic sheep since the early 1900s, and grazing is still permitted in some parts of the wilderness. Some of the alpine lakes provide outstanding fishing for trout, and the neighboring Methow River is also well-known for its fly fishing. In late September, deer hunters stalk the ridges and streams of the Pasayten in pursuit of deer. Travelers who enter the Pasayten at this time should wear blaze orange clothing. During the winter months, the Methow Valley is a mecca for cross-country skiing, but the steep country of the Pasayten itself is too avalanche-prone for backcountry ski trips.

Backcountry permits are not required, although there is a new fee for each night of parking on national forest lands that surround the wilderness. The fees are part of an experimental pilot program; be sure to voice your opinions about the fees to your congressional representatives.

The main access route to the Pasayten is Harts Pass Road (Forest Road 5400), which runs 18.5 miles from Mazama to Harts Pass, near timberline. The road is wide and well maintained through the Methow River valley but becomes narrow and steep as it climbs the valley walls and winds up past Deadhorse Point to reach the high country to the west. Potholes and fallen rocks can make for challenging driving, particularly for vehicles with low clearance. From Harts Pass, a good road winds up toward Slate Peak, and a narrow and rutted track descends along Slate Creek to end at the Cady Pass trailhead, where the road has been washed out and abandoned (Chancellor Campground can no longer be reached by car). The Pasayten can also be accessed from Washington Highway 20 via the Jackita Ridge and Chancellor Trails (Hikes 53 and 69). The wilderness can be approached from the west via trails that follow Ross Lake; travelers who begin their journey in Ross Lake Recreation Area must have a free permit to camp on national park lands. Trails also penetrate the wilderness from Canada; hikers who approach from the north should obtain the appropriate clearance from U.S. and Canadian Customs.

There is little in the way of services near the Pasayten Wilderness. Gas and limited supplies can be obtained at the small mercantile store in Mazama. Eleven miles east of Mazama is the resort town of Winthrop, where visitors will find backpacking supplies, excellent restaurants, bed-and-breakfast lodgings, and a laid-back atmosphere that hearkens back to the days of the Old West. Travelers who seek a more rustic experience will find several Forest Service campgrounds along the West Fork of the Methow River as well as two alpine campgrounds in the vicinity of Harts Pass. There is a Forest Service visitor center in Winthrop, and a ranger cabin at Harts Pass is staffed sporadically during the summer.